Typically, coatings used for confectionery products, such as frozen, fat-based desserts, e.g., an ice lolly, bar, morsel, cone, cup or cake, are composed of fat-containing substances. One class of coating materials commonly used for such purpose are the chocolates, i.e., plain chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate, which are based on cocoa butter. Another class of coating materials well known in the art are the so-called "compound" coating materials wherein some or all of the cocoa butter has been replaced by alternative fat compositions, such as cocoa butter equivalents ("CBE"), cocoa butter substitutes ("CBS") and/or cocoa butter replacers ("CBR"). For a detailed discussion of these types of alternative fats see, for example, Traitler, H. et al., Journal of the American Oil Chemists Society, 62(2), 417-21 (1985); Shukla, V., Developments in Oils and Fats, 66-94 (1995); Berger, K., Food Technology, 40(9), 72-79 (1986), the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
In practice, the coating material is melted or otherwise liquified, and the frozen desserts are dipped into or otherwise coated with the liquified coating, such as by spraying or enrobing. The fat of the coating congeals on contact with the frozen dessert to form a coating over all or a portion of the dessert. During the coating process, the apparent viscosity (referred to hereinafter as simply the "viscosity") of the melted coating must be maintained within narrow limits to ensure that the proper amount of coating material is picked up by the frozen confection.
Coatings comprising a substantial amount of fat, however, often display properties that are unsatisfactory to the consumer and/or the product producer. Such properties include the tendency to break, flake or rub off during production or consumption and/or to soften too much in the hand of the consumer. In addition, a further important consideration with the use of fat-based coatings such as chocolate is the amount of calories the coating contributes to the frozen dessert. For example, a typical chocolate coating for an ice cream bar contains about 80 calories per bar. The largest portion of the calories comes from the fat which accounts for approximately 60% of the coating. Calorie-conscious consumers, however, demand coatings with a lower amount of calories. One way to reduce the calorie content of such coatings is to reduce the amount of fat therein. Care must be taken when doing so, however, since adjusting the composition of the coating may substantially affect the viscosity and the resultant rheology of the coating, which may, in turn, affect the quantity and/or the quality of the coating applied to a particular confection.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a fat-based coating confection with a reduced tendency to break, flake or rub off the underlying substrate, and having a reduced calorie content attained by reducing the amount of fat present in the fat-based coating wherein such composition maintains a sufficient viscosity to permit application thereof upon, e.g., a frozen dessert through the use of techniques such as those disclosed above. As taught herein, the method of the present invention results in formation of fat-based coating compositions for confections, such as ice cream, which fulfill the long-felt need for such less brittle, reduced fat coatings.